Metallic cushion tire



Feb. 10, 1948. A. R. E. A. PERREAU 2,435,599

I METALLIC CUSHION TIRE I Filed Sept. 1, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F'J" 1 *Fuz [Ella Z601.- ARMAND RAYMOND ERNE-STANDRE PERREAU B a fi tiorzzeys.

Feb. 10, 1948. A. R. E. A. PERREAU 2,435,599

METALLIC CUSHION TIRE I Filed Sept. 1, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [ma-W1, 601 0ND ERNESTANDRE. PERREAU M$flvg ARMANDRAYM E Patented Feb. 10, 1948 METALLIC cosmos TIRE Armand Raymond Ernest Andre Perreau, Lyon, France; vested in the Attorney General of the United States Application September 1, 1942, Serial No. 456,846

In France October 23, 1941 2 Claims. (01. 152-275) V 1 2 As is known, the trajectory of every moving adaptable to existing wheels belonging to types vehicle should wherever possible approximate a having rigid or semi-rigid treads.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE straight line in order to satisfy requirements so With these and such other objects in view as far as the comfort of passengers and proper runwill incidentally appear hereafter, the invention ning conditions of the vehicle are concerned. comprises the novel construction, combination Where the speed increases, such a condition beand arrangement of parts that will now be decomes imperative especially if the ground is unscribed in detail with reference to the accomeven or bumpy. The type of vehicle wheel which panying' diagrammatic drawings illustrating emhas given the best results in this respect heretobodiments of the same and forming a part of the fore is that having a rim provided with a pneupresent disclosure. matic tire so as to absorb as it were the uneven- In the drawings: nesses of the road on which the vehicle travels. Figure l is a fragmentary elevational view part- In order to obviate the risk of punctures or the ly in section along a plane extending on the line call for rubber in the manufacture of tires, l-l of Fig. 2 at right ngles to the axis of the numerous elastic wheels comprising no inflatable 16 wheel hub. air tube were devised but they all'present more Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevational view or less serious disadvantages. partly in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 show- The. primary object of the present invention is ing the geometrical projection of one of the ring to provide an elastic wheel of novel or improved members included in the wheel structure on a construction capable of obviating the disadvanpla extending ng the major axis of the tages of prior non-pneumatic tire wheels while Wheel hub. lending itself to a process of manufacture uti- Figure 3 is a ep ate enlarged View sh a lising no substantial quantity of rubber, turnbuckle device for adjusting tension on the Another object of the invention i t provide a links or rods that interconnect the ring members wheel comprising an elastic tire or tread made up involved in the wheel structure. of a plurality of resilient ring or loop members Fi r s 4 and 5 re vi s on a s a s al shaped and. juxtaposedso as to build a sho ksimilar to Fig. 2 showing constructional modifiabsorbing annulus or torus and so interconn of the ring membersnected as to cause any reactive stress imparted to es 6 d a e further e s Similar to said annulus by an impact from the ground to be Figs. 4 a 5 Showing a developments of the distributed to neighboring ring or loop members vention other constructional modifications of the wh reby a substantial portion of th torus parring members, assuming each of the latter to be takes in the balancing of said reactive stress. de D f a Pa f e s- A further object of the invention is to provide i r 8 s a w s r to i 1 s owing a a wheel comprising an elastic tire or tread made further constructional form f the Wheelup of a plurality of loop members so intercon- Figure 9 s a View Similar to 1 Showing t nected as to cause oscillations derived from an r l strat d in Fig. 8 and an additional rubimpact of the ground on said tire to be cushioned berized cloth tread over the ring members as well and damped down by a self braking action so as as e Coverings thereforo prevent said oscillations from being propa- Figure 10 is a view drawn on the same scale as gated to the whole of th tir Figs. 4 to '7 but showing a constructional modifi- A still further object f the i v ti i t cation wherein the wheel tire or tread has a twin vide a wheel comprising an elastic tire or tread Structure. Comprises a p of ring member made p of a plurality of loop members so interassemblies arranged in parallelism, connected by adjustable connecting means a t Like reference characters designate like parts allow the cushioning effect of said 100p members throughout the several views. to be regulated to cope with the load to b Reference being first had to the constructional ried or the condition of the road, the adjustment form Shown in Figs. 1 and it ill be S en t at thus performed being analoggus to t arying the elastic wheel or tire structure comprises a pludegree of inflation of a pneumatic tir 5o rality of loop members a arranged side by side Still a further object of the invention is to prosubstantially parallel to the wheel axis and intervide an elastic structure a aforesaid possessing connected b members such as arcuate rods or resiliency both radially and in a lateral direchoops b circumsc n he rim an arran ed at tion, said structure being utilisable either as a intervals along the internal outline of said loop complete'wheel or as a resilientv tire or tread members so that under ground impacts such members may be temporarily distorted in innumerable planes.

In the embodiments shown, eight hoops or rods 12 are provided but such a number is not limitative. Advantageously, the loop members a are made of resilient wire (for example steel wire) which may have any convenient cross sectional shape: circular, oval, rectangular or another shape.

Some of the rods b are loosely engaged through fastening members such as U-shaped shackles c encircling the wires a, while other rods b are engaged through eye portions d formed on the innerly disposed adjacent ends of the wires a.

The end portions of the wires or 100p members a are bent at a a (see Fig. 2) to present outer concavities matching corresponding convexities formed respectively on a rim e and a companion rim flange e The rim e is integral with the wheel disk plate I to which the rim flange e is bolted at e.

Each rod or hoop bis advantageously made in two-sections as shown in Fig. 3, said sections having loosely interfitting ends b}, b and being pivotally interconnected by a chordal turnbuckle device shown diagrammatically and including a nut g by which the degree of interfit may be set to vary the tension of the rods b and wire assembly and thus match requirements. It will be understood that as the nut g is so rotated as to bring the rod male end b further into the rod female end 12 the diameter of the entire circular rod or hoop b is lessened and the resiliency of the assembly of loops or wires a is correspondingly altered. Therefore by adjusting the turnbuckle means provided on the wire connecting rods 12, an action somewhat similar to that achieved when more or less inflating a pneumatic tire may be obtained.

An elastic system made as above described forms a self damped and self contained structure. The damping action results from the mutual frictions of the wires a and rods 1), while the self contained character results from the bent, looped or elbowed outlines which are given to the flank portions of the loop members a, to cause them to rub or abut against one another, particularly in a plane at right angles to the wheel axis, in a region of the inner ends of the elbows.

One feature of the wheel resides in the possibilities of deriving the desired resiliency from the flank portions of the loop members either by resorting for example to elbowed or chevron outlines as shown in Fig. 1 or by giving said flank portions a convex outline as shown in Fig. 4 or a concave outline as shown in Fig, 5 or else by forming helical turns in said flank portions as shown as a in Figs. 8 and 9.

Moreover, as each loop member is the essential resilient component of the elastic wheel, it may be shaped in difl'erent ways from a single wire, cord or the like or from a pair of wires, cords or the like as shown for example in Figs. 6 and 7 where two wire elements a are coupled at their outer ends as at i and are abutted at their inner ends. tov correspondingly shaped rim portions. The coupling of the wire elements a at their meeting ends may be performed by any means such as by soldering, welding, brazing or otherwise.

In the constructional form shown in Figs. 8 and 9 wherein the-flank portions of the separate wire elements a are provided with internal he1i-' cal turns at. the loop members are interconthe assembly in view of its adaptation to a rim of known construction. A set of plates 2', 7' (Fig. 9) clamped by means of tightening bolts it facilitates the assembly of the wire elements or half loop member 0 This constructional form also comprises an additional tread m which may be advantageously formed of a multiply rubberized cloth or an equivalent attrition resisting material. It further comprises a pair of flexible coverings such as a which protect the flank portions of the flexible half loop members a and are secured to the ends of the tread m and to rim flanges p, p. The coverings 0 may be made of any yielding or flexible material such for example as rubber, leather, rubberized cloth or gauze. They shroud the assembly from dirt, grit and similar detrimental actions.

An advantage Worth mentioning of a tread such as m is that while protecting the assembly it also distributes reactive stresses due to ground impacts to the several loop members to whose outermost portions it is fastened in any suitable manner. A tread such as m is advantageously endowed with anti-skidding properties and improves the running conditions of the vehicle particularly so far as its behavior on the road is concerned.

In the constructional modification shown in Fig. 10, the rim e is provided with two co-extensive parallel sets of loop members a, a each of which is built up as above described. An annulus q is provided on the rim e intermediate the adjacent ends of both loop member sets so that they can be properly abutted thereagainst.

It will be understood that the invention may be applied either to the construction of a complete wheel or to the construction of an annulus or torus having the aforesaid structure and adaptable to a readily made rim and hub assembly, in which case the torus will be used instead of a pneumatic tire.

It will be further understood that the words wires and links" used in this specification must be construed in a broad sense as involving all equivalents. Thus the word "wires also involves the meaning of cords and cables, While the word "links involves the meaning of rods, bars and similar elongated members capable of playing the same function in resiliently interconnecting the ring members.

Minor constructional details might be changed, moreover, without departing from the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An elastic wheel comprising a rim supported from a hub, a plurality of flexible members arrange-d side by side, bulging outwardly from the rim, and having curved end portions remote from the rim forming the wheel tread, and having substantially radially disposed portions intermediate the rim and tread lying substantially in the planes of the outer and inner faces of the wheel, said intermediate portions being bent to form elbows also lying in said planes, said elbows being capable of temporary resilient distortion in innumerable planes responsive to ground impacts on the said end portions of the members, said elbows also being so closely spaced at their inner ends that said ends are caused to contact one another to form substantially unyielding structure at the impact regions in the planes of said inner and outer wheel faces, rods circumscribing the rim, and means for slidably and frictionally interconnecting said rods to said members whereby the oscillations derived from an impact of the wheel with the" ground will be damped by said frictional interconnecting means.

2. An elastic wheel as defined in claim 1 further comprising ,means associated with each of said rods for exerting adjustable tension thereon to thereby selectively vary the combined shockabsorbing capacity of the members.

ARMAND RAYMOND ERNEST ANDRE PERREAU.

REFERENCES crmn file of this patent:

Number Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Temple 1- Mar. 19, 1912 Wilmot Jan. 19, 1909 Stephens June 8, 1915 Greenewald Sept. 27, 1910 Auberlin June 12, 1917 Ballantine June 26, 1894 Lyons May 4, 1915 Conatser Sept. 26, 1899 Willis Jan. 24, 1911 Stanfield June 20, 1922 Mendenhall Dec. 8, 1914 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Apr. 24, 1902 

